the tides are in our veins
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: Daphne knew sixth year would be hard, and with her time running out before her family marries her off, its about to get harder. Then she finds Susan and everything changes.
1. 1 Ginger and Camomile Tea

**AN:** Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

* * *

 **the tides are in our veins**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

 **Chapter One**

 **Ginger and Camomile Tea**

* * *

On September tenth, Daphne Greengrass' face turned a shade of vibrant pink no one had seen before. Tracey Davis, her best friend of five years, frowned from behind her glasses and shot her a quizzical look. Daphne blinked the mortified expression off her face and thrust the Daily Prophet across the breakfast table. She tapped furiously at an advert in the announcements column and Tracey pushed her glasses into her hair, peering at the black print.

 _An Important Announcement From_

 _THE GREENGRASS FAMILY_

 _Lord and Lady Greengrass would like to announce their oldest daughter's seventeenth year. Daphne Edna Greengrass celebrates her special day in her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The family wishes her a pleasant yet productive day and good luck with the remainder of her studies this term._

"What—" Tracey began.

"The small print," Daphne hissed.

Tracey squinted down again at the paper.

 _The Greengrass Family welcomes and encourages offers from families to pursue a partnership with their oldest daughter._

"Holy fu—"

"You'd think they could have told me, maybe even mentioned it in the letter they sent this morning," Daphne interrupted, clearly furious but keeping her voice to a harsh whisper. "Why, for Merlin's sake, would they print this in the Daily Prophet?"

Tracey leant backwards, unsure of what to say, whilst Daphne folded the paper in two and snapped _no_ at anyone who asked to read it.

It wasn't until their Muggle Studies class later that morning that Tracey suggested a solution. "Can't you just scare all the men away like you usually do?"

Daphne snorted. It was something she had mulled over for the last few hours — something she was sure she could pull off too. The only problem was if her Grandfather found out. If he realised that she had been purposely warding off suitors, then he would be furious and claim she was bringing shame on the family. It was something he'd said multiple times when Daphne mentioned anything slightly akin to the fact she had no interest in boys whatsoever. So, realistically, chasing them all off probably wouldn't work forever.

She waved her hand dismissively. "A temporary solution, Trace."

"I'll think of something," Tracey replied. "You shouldn't be worried about it today anyway, Daph — it's your birthday, for Merlin's sake."

Her friend was right. Despite the embarrassment of her Grandfather basically putting her up for sale, she was supposed to be enjoying the day, not worrying. She should have realised it was going to happen sooner rather than later.

"You're right; I'll try and forget about it for now," Daphne said.

Tracey beamed from behind the end of the quill she was chewing. "Excellent; so I was thinking we should—"

"Miss Davis, Miss Greengrass, this is not the time for conversation," Professor Burbage called.

"Sorry, Professor," they chorused.

They managed to avoid trouble in their small N.E.W.T Level class until Tracey thought it was appropriate to toss a note onto Daphne's desk. It promptly missed and landed between Ernie Macmillian's and Padma Patil's desks right in front Professor Burbage. Their Muggle Studies Professor bent down to collect it and opened it to read.

The girls watched in horror until Burbage sighed. "Miss Davis, two points from Slytherin for throwing parchment around. Miss Greengrass, as it's your birthday, I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Now, please, girls, continue with your O.W.L recap booklets."

There was a mumbled _yes, Professor_ from the two before they continued with the work they'd been set.

Finally, the clanging of the school bell echoed outside in the corridor, signalled the end of class. t The room was filled with the sounds of scuffling bags and scraping chairs. Professor Burbage called out to remind them to complete their booklets for homework and the class headed for the door. Daphne and Tracey were near the back of the small group when suddenly Ernie Macmillan stopped in the doorway and stepped back.

"After you, Daphne," he said.

Ernie had a slight stammer in his voice, which was unusual since he usually talked with such obnoxious confidence.

Daphne exchanged a look with her bespectacled friend and then turned back to the curly-haired Hufflepuff. "Um, thanks, I guess."

Confused, she quickly slipped through the open door. She was closely followed by Tracey, who leaned in close to whisper in her ear. "That was weird, right?"

"Yeah."

They began to walk down the corridor, only to hear the rush of feet that was Ernie catching up and falling into step to Daphne's left.

"So it's your birthday today, Daphne?" he asked.

"Yeah… it is," she answered slowly. "Why?"

"Well, I wanted to, you know, say happy birthday and stuff," he trailed off. "I mean, do you have a free class now? We could go finish these booklets in the library."

"I have History of Magic next," Daphne answered. "Why are you asking, Ernie?"

He had made no effort to talk to her before. Why was he now asking whether they wanted to study together? She was suspicious to say the least and she could see Trace frowning in her peripheral vision. Ernie's cheeks tinged pink and he immediately looked down at his shoes as if embarrassed.

"Well, I mean," he stammered, "I think you're pretty and stuff, and I... I was just... I thought, you know, because of — "

"Any time today, Ernie," Tracey muttered from behind Daphne.

Daphne had already guessed what he meant, however. Ernie had read the Daily Prophet this morning and therefore he was being nice to her in the hope that maybe their families could make an arrangement. Even so, Ernie couldn't quite bring himself to say that.

"—I mean. You know, it was just suggestion," he said, his confidence coming back. "Another time, then. Have a wonderful birthday."

He spun on his heel and strode away from them before either of them could say anything more. Daphne was rooted to the spot for a moment and Tracey made a questionable noise behind her.

"What the frick was that?" she exclaimed — except she didn't say frick, but something far more vulgar than that.

"That was the beginning of the impact of that stupid article this morning," Daphne explained frustratedly.

Trace pressed her lips together and Daphne huffed. This was turning into the worst birthday of her life so far. The two girls split at the end of the corridor: Daphne heading for the History of Magic classroom and Tracey heading in the direction of the stairs so she could make her way to Herbology. Between the Muggle Studies corridor and her History of Magic room, Daphne was stopped twice by different people.

A seventh year, Lewis Rowle, stopped her on the stairs between the third and fourth corridor.

"Daphne, right?" he asked, flashing particularly white teeth at her.

"Right." She nodded.

They'd met a few times at Pureblood balls but had never really exchanged more than a few words.

"Would you like to join me for lunch?"

"I—I said I'd eat with my friend today," she replied, trying not to sound as rude as she wanted to be.

"Tomorrow?" Lewis prompted.

"Maybe; I'll think about it," she said. "I have to go to class."

Daphne said goodbye and quickly ascended to the next floor, where she bumped into Theodore Nott.

"Woah, Daphne. Watch where you're going," he said jokingly.

The two sixth-year Slytherins got on well, so she apologised. "Sorry about that; I'm having one of those days."

"One of those days?" he prompted, picking up the book that had been in Daphne's hand and passing it over to her.

"Yeah."

She didn't particularly want to explain and Theo didn't push the topic either, which she was grateful for.

"Here," he said, "I'll walk with you. You're going to History of Magic, right?"

He walked the remainder of the way with her, making small talk as they usually did when they shared classes or were in the Slytherin's N.E.W.T. study room working. Unfortunately, that didn't last much longer. Daphne was just about to thank him and say goodbye when he stopped and spoke before she could.

"With your permission, Daphne, I would like to court you so our families can form a strong alliance and — "

"For Merlin's sake—" except she did not say Merlin's "—I don't want to be courted or anything. Just stop, Theo," she interrupted.

She didn't wait for his response; she simply stormed into History of Magic and dropped into her chair with a huff. Her bag slid to the floor with a thud and caught the attention of Susan Bones. Susan, Daphne, Terry Boot, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Anthony Goldstein were the only five students who had pursued History of Magic to N.E.W.T. Level. The class was even smaller than her eight-strong Muggle Studies class. They were all close knit because of that. Susan slipped into the chair beside her.

"What's the matter, Daphne?" she asked.

Daphne turned to the redhead, whose blue eyes were filled with concern, and sighed. "It's nothing, Susan; don't worry about it."

Susan, however, turned out to be wholly persistent. "You are obviously upset. I mean, your usual Slytherin demeanor is pretty non-existent. Could I help in some way?"

"Unless you have sway to retract an announcement from the Daily Prophet," Daphne responded, "then not really, Susan, no."

"Ah, right. I saw that this morning. How are you feeling about it?"

"Pretty crap. I think my grandfather is trying to make a point because he knows I care more about school than I do about dating or whatever."

"I can't even begin to imagine, Daphne," she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine." The Slytherin sighed. "It's not your fault."

For a moment, neither spoke. There was just the chatter of the three boys across the room. Class didn't start for another five minutes. Eventually, Susan broke the silence again. "Is there no one you like at all? Boys-wise? Girls, even?"

Daphne's head shot up. Susan's lightly-freckled face was serious, so she wasn't joking. She felt her cheeks heat at the question.

"No," Daphne responded. "I mean — Merlin, imagine. I'm getting palpitations just thinking what my grandfather would say if I were… if I liked girls."

Susan hummed. "So that's a no on boys, and a no on girls. Perhaps you're interested in merpeople?"

Daphne laughed at the knowing look on Susan's face upon her suggestion. Clearly joking, Susan smiled and threw her hands up in the air. "Success — I just made you smile."

Daphne could feel herself beaming. Susan was so easy to talk to that it surprised her; she did feel mildly less annoyed than a few minutes ago. At least she was being nice with no ulterior motive, unlike the three boys earlier, who had just acted chivalrous for the sake of a family arrangement. That, and Daphne knew Susan must have been struggling herself this year. She'd read in the paper about Susan's aunt, Amelia Bones, being killed during the school holidays.

Even so, Susan leant back in her chair, still grinning widely. She pushed her hair to one side so she could play with it over her shoulder. "In all seriousness, Daphne, you seem like a good person. So if I can help in any way, please just let me know, okay?"

"Alright," Daphne replied. "Thanks, Susan. That means a lot, actually."

For the rest of the class, the two girls chatted on and off, and worked together when there were set tasks. Daphne found herself forgetting all about everything that had happened previous to the class. She was captivated by her new friend, intrigued by her friendliness, her open-mindedness, and Daphne was totally at ease for an hour and a half.

When the bell sounded, Susan turned to her and smiled. "Try and enjoy the rest of your birthday, Daph. You deserve to."

"Thanks."

Susan left alongside her fellow Hufflepuff, Justin, but waved and called goodbye before disappearing through the classroom door. Daphne packed up slowly, intending to avoid the majority of people making their way to lunch. Despite the fear of more people hounding her thanks to the announcement in the paper, Daphne was smiling. She had never thought a History of Magic lesson could be quite so enjoyable — and so calming.

Susan had proved her wrong.

* * *

 **Competition:** QLFC Round Five

 **Prompt** : Write about a character acting chivalrous, or having another character acting chivalrous towards your character.

 **Word Count:** 2074 (not including titles and A/Ns)


	2. 2 The Den of Friendship

**AN:** Prompts will be displayed at the bottom to avoid them potentially giving away things.

* * *

 **the tides are in our veins**

 **AlwaysPadfoot**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 **The Den of Friendship**

* * *

A week later Daphne was still being accosted by boys from a range of years and Houses. Tracey and her were spending their free periods and spare time hidden in one of their dormitories, or in an abandoned classroom. She had a feeling that wasn't going to stop any time soon either.

Despite the fact Trace was helping, Daphne now felt as though History of Magic was her safest space.

Maybe it was because of the class size, maybe it was because no one in that class had come on to her yet. But it now happened to be the only place she could truly relax. Not even in her own bedroom could she seem to ward off knocks on the door.

Lewis Rowle had been particularly persistent.

Every day this week he'd come to her and tried to start conversations. Daphne had awkwardly made up excuses every single time. Trace said he'd give up eventually, but Daphne wanted that 'eventually' to be now, more than anything else in the world.

It was the start of a shitty year.

Only one person seemed to realise just how shitty, and that was Susan Bones.

Every time Daphne walked into the History of Magic classroom, Susan seemed to know exactly how she was feeling. Today was no exception.

"I know that look," Susan said as Daphne dropped into the chair beside the red-haired Hufflepuff.

"Don't," Daphne replied wearily, holding up a hand. "I am so tired I can't even think straight."

"What happened?"

"Lewis fucking Rowle," Daphne said. "He is driving me crazy and doesn't seem to understand that I do not want to _get_ with him."

Susan leant forward as Daphne unpacked her textbook and the worksheet that she'd completed for their last homework assignment.

"Have you tried telling him no — instead of countering with bullshit Pureblood niceties?" Susan suggested.

"What? And advertise to the world that I am not interested in marriage?" Daphne's voice was set in a low hiss, frustration clearly evident. "I might as well walk around with a target on my back for my Grandfather to throw curses at."

"Alright!" Susan held up her hands in surrender and sat back in her chair to finish unpacking her own bag, her voice then dropping to muttered syllables. "It was just a suggestion."

Exhaling, Daphne felt her shoulders sag. She hadn't meant to snap; she was just so worried about this whole marriage proposition thing that she was spending most nights tossing and turning. It felt as though it was never going to end. Before she could pluck up the courage to apologise to Susan, Professor Binns floated through the wall of his office and over to his desk, calling the class to attention.

The conversation played on Daphne's mind throughout the class, and by the time Binns' long-winded lecture of the Werewolf revolt of the 13th Century had ended, she decided she couldn't hold her apology in any longer.

"Hey, Susan?"

The Hufflepuff looked up curiously from the notes she was finishing. "Yeah, Daphne."

"I'm sorry I snapped—"

"—it's fine. You have a lot on your mind; it must be really difficult to deal with."

Daphne sighed softly, placing her quill back in the holder on the desk. "It is, but that doesn't mean I get to be a bitch to my friends."

"I'm your friend?" Susan asked, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know."

Daphne was starting to doubt her social skills, panicking that she'd said the wrong thing all of a sudden. She had considered Susan a friend, but maybe it wasn't reciprocated. Maybe her understanding of friendship was skewed, after all, she had considered Theo a friend previous to his attempt to _court_ her.

Susan, noticing Daphne's rapidly spreading look of confusion, quickly spoke up. "Not that I don't consider you a friend, it's just that we don't really talk outside of class."

"Oh."

Daphne felt somewhat lost as she attempted to get her thoughts straight. Finally she cleared her throat and explained to Susan that her and Tracey had been spending a lot of time hidden away in their rooms because of everything that was happening. Not, she thought, that it was working any longer. Susan rubbed her chin, appearing deep in thought, until she snapped her fingers, making Daphne jump slightly.

"Come do some work in the Hufflepuff Common Room," Susan said with a smile. "At least then it will stop most people tracking you down."

It was a kind offer, one Daphne wouldn't put past any Hufflepuff, but she had never set foot in any of the other House's common rooms before. She didn't even know it was allowed — at least, she had never seen anyone but Slytherins in her Common Room.

"Is that allowed?" she asked.

"Of course," Susan replied. "Everyone is welcome in the Hufflepuff Common Room."

Daphne gave her a sceptical look, the corner of her lips turning up slightly at the corner. "Really?"

"Well, maybe not _some_ people," Susan admitted, "but there's regularly other houses in there."

Their attention was taken away from the conversation as Professor Binns explained what their homework was to be. Daphne made a neat note in her diary, alongside the Transfiguration and Defence homework she'd been assigned today, and then started to pack her things away. She was debating just exactly where to hide during her free period whilst Tracey was in Ancient Runes — perhaps somewhere deep in the library. Cast out of her thoughts as Susan stood up at the side of her, Daphne looked up.

"You coming then?" Susan asked.

"Huh?"

"To the Hufflepuff Common Room."

"Oh," Daphne said, "yeah, of course. Let's go."

She hadn't thought Susan meant right now, but even so, she rose to her feet and pulled her satchel over her shoulder. The Hufflepuff looked absolutely thrilled that Daphne had accepted the offer, and seemed to have a spring in her step that she hadn't before.

The two walked away from the fourth floor, talking quietly about nothing in particular. Daphne found herself absorbed in Susan's words as she talked about how bitter she was about having to prune a bunch of plants in Herbology for Professor Slughorn's potion cupboard. Her eyes drifted to Susan's hands, which she used frequently to animate her words. Her nails were painted a stunning yellow with black details that Daphne hadn't noticed before. The girl took her Hufflepuff pride seriously, and did nails like a professional too. How she'd kept them perfect whilst being in the greenhouses this morning was beyond Daphne's comprehension entirely.

As they reached the main staircase, Daphne was feeling aptly distracted by their discussion about the new revised edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them that had just been released. Susan was mid-sentence about how fascinating she found Demiguise, when someone caught Daphne's shoulder.

"Daphne, can we just talk a second?"

It was Lewis Rowle, again. Before Daphne could even muster a response, Susan turned, moving ever-so-slightly between the two of them.

"Hi, hello," she said with a wide smile that Daphne assumed could only be fake. "I'm not sure you noticed, but my friend and I are having a conversation, which you just so rudely interrupted."

Daphne found herself surprised that Susan had the audacity to just confront someone like that. She was in a mild state of shock that she couldn't bring herself to say anything, nor did she particularly want to interrupt Susan whilst she was on a roll.

"Clearly it must be urgent if you thought you could just grab Daphne's shoulder mid-conversation?" Susan pressed, raising an eyebrow when Rowle looked appropriately stunned. "No? No, I didn't think so either, so maybe next time think before you do something. You can _catch up_ later."

Susan touched her hand to Daphne's elbow and guided her away from the seventh year, who appeared to be in a state of shock similar to her own. Somehow they ended up in the Entrance Hall, and heading right in the vague direction Daphne knew the Hufflepuff Common Room was in without having exchanged any more words with one another.

"You okay, Daph?" Susan asked eventually, when they were in a quieter corridor that Daphne had never been down before.

Daphne shook herself out of her haze. "What? Yes, no, of course I am. Thanks, Susan. Honestly, you are amazing, thank you."

Susan blushed and waved the comment off, suggesting that they continued on their way to the Hufflepuff Basement. She bitched solidly after that about how Lewis Rowle was a self-entitled prick and Daphne found herself laughing so hard that her sides hurt. The Hufflepuff was fiery with a passion Daphne had never known about and she loved it. She had a feeling this newfound friendship would become one of her better choices in life.

Eventually they turned off the corridor that they'd been on and Daphne noticed they were at a dead end. There was nothing but huge barrels, four feet in diameter, stacked into storage railings on the wall.

Noticing the confusion in Daphne's expression, Susan laughed and then raised her hand to the barrel in the centre. She knocked — twice, and then three times in rapid succession — and the circular wooden barrel gave away, revealing that it was, in fact, a door.

Susan pushed it open, stepped inside and then offered her hand to Daphne. "Come on then."

Daphne took her outstretched hand and stepped over into the room beyond the barrels. It opened up into a huge circular space, in which the first thing she noticed was the high beamed ceiling. Decorated with floating constellations and a sky that mimicked the charm of the Great Hall, Daphne's eyes moved to the lofted area where students appeared to be able to climb up to. There was a wonderful sense of cosiness as Susan closed the door and they moved close to the centre of the room. In the absolute centre, under a sort-of mosaic sun on the ceiling there was an open fire pit in a large lowered seating area.

Daphne could see Susan watching her from the corner of her eye, and she blushed slightly.

"This is so different to the Slytherin Common Room," Daphne said quickly by way of explanation before gesturing to the seven large circular doors around the outside of the common room. "I assume these go you your dormitories."

"Sort of," Susan smiled.

She beckoned Daphne to follow her to the penultimate one on their right. In the centre of the wooden door was a black iron number six, which she presumed could only mean it was for sixth years. Susan opened the door to reveal a smaller common room beyond it.

"You have common rooms in your common room," Daphne said, eyes widening at the sight of far quieter, comfier room.

"We do."

On each side there were archways — some with curtains pulled across, some that didn't — and through them Daphne could see the individual bedrooms that the sixth year Hufflepuffs slept in. It was fascinating how different it was to the Slytherin norm. In Slytherin, first through fourth years slept in dorm rooms, and fifth years up were given the option to branch off into smaller groups or individual rooms. Susan explained that the layout was the same for first years, all the way through to the seventh years.

"Want to see my bedroom?" she asked.

"Sure, I'd love to," Daphne responded.

Susan's room was decorated with colour. The queen size bed had a grey duvet decorated with multiple gold stars and was accompanied by matching yellow pillows and a blanket. She'd also put up several sets of enchanted lights, some of which cascaded from the curtain rail, whilst others were draped across her headboard and bookshelves.

There was a desk on the left of the archway they'd just stepped through which had numerous photos stuck up above it. At the back of the desk were all her school notebooks — roughly A5, with different colours for each N.E.W.T subject she was taking — all stacked in alphabetical order.

Daphne's eyes drifted back to the photos for a moment. There were lots of Susan and her aunt — Daphne hadn't realised how close they had been.

Quickly, she turned back to the Hufflepuff and smiled. "Your room is lovely. It puts mine to shame."

Susan scoffed and dropped her bag on the bed, kicking her shoes off. "Why do I have a feeling your room is meticulously tidy?"

"I am not meticulously tidy," Daphne said, thinking about all of her notes stacked up in a pile on her desk back in her room.

"I've seen how neat your diary is."

A burst of air left Daphne's lips at that comment. "That's because if that was untidy I would never do anything. My diary is like my brain."

Susan pulled a face that Daphne was sure meant that the redhead didn't believe a word she was saying. Rummaging through her bag, Susan pulled out her History of Magic notebook and held it up. "Shall we go do some work then?"

Daphne rolled her eyes and smiled softly. "Sure."

* * *

 **Competition:** Squad MC Challenge. Raise Your Dragon Challenge

 **Word Count:** 2187 (not including titles and A/Ns)


End file.
